Real Fairy Others Believed hey

The Cottingley Fairies appear in a series of five photographs taken by Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths two young cousins who lived in Cottingley near Bradford in England. In 1917 when the first two photographs were taken Elsie was 16 years old and Frances was 10 The pictures came to the attention of writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle who used them to illustrate an article on fairies he had been commissioned to write for the Christmas 1920 edition of The Strand Magazine.


was enthusiastic about the photographs and interpreted them as clear and visible evidence of psychic phenomena Public reaction was mixed some accepted that the images were genuine but others believed they had been faked.


who had by then returned to the UK. Elsie left open the possibility that she believed she had photographed her thoughts and the media once again became interested in the story In the early 1980sboth admitted that the photographs were faked using cardboard cutouts of fairies copied from a popular children's book of the time.